Join the Proteans as they present a selection of Geoffrey Chaucer’s most famous and celebrated works. A group of ‘pilgrims’ embark on a journey and tell outrageous tales to pass the time featuring a bawdy cast of nuns, knights, cooks, clerks, merchants, squires and even a cockeral or two!
Please note this is a ticketed event with tickets priced at £10 | £8 and available from the Proteus website.
Something magical is stirring! The wait is over. The giant egg has hatched and the mystery has been solved. The Beast of Basingstoke has woken and is ready to meet its people…
Join over 20 community groups, local schools, and more than 500 marchers as The Parade of the Mythical Beasts launches the 15th year of Basingstoke Festival. Bring your friends, family and ‘roarsome’ energy for an evening of magic, music and myths. Witness a marching menagerie of mystical beasts as dragons, unicorns and phoenixes take to the streets.
Joining the anarchic extravaganza will be Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, the thunderous rhythms of the Basingstoke Silver Band Cavaliers as well as the Royal British Legion Band. You are all encouraged be a part of this joyful street party!
The parade starts at 5.30pm on Cross Street. Watch as the magic unfolds on Church Street, travels past the Willis Museum and the lively, feel-good parade continues down Wote Street, before arriving at the Festival Place Amphitheatre.
The excitement carries on as Mr Wilson’s Second Liners continue the party vibe performing 90s club classics. Tit for Tat Circus will then bring the mischief and mayhem with their new show, A Disorder of Knights, ending the evening with a bang and kickstarting three weekends of fantastic festival fun!
Whether you are a local resident, a visitor or one of the many creative minds who entered the Beast of Basingstoke design competition, this is a celebration for everyone.
We expect the performances to end by 7.30pm
Join a trio of leading performance poets, Paul Lyalls, Sally Pomme Clayton and Zohab Zee Khan, for a fun-filled, interactive poetry show bursting with rhythm, movement, and imagination. This lively performance, from Apples and Snakes, invites audiences to get on their feet – dancing, singing and joining in – as words come alive. As part of the performance, come and hear a new Ballad for Basingstoke commissioned by Basingstoke Festival.
Duration: 45 minutes
Location 7: ///crowd.intro.toward
A heart-warming, Caribbean welcome awaits during this inter-generational story told through Hip-Hop, street arts and audience participation.
This family-friendly dance theatre show focuses on the importance of intergenerational relationships through the bond between a grandfather and his grandchildren as they prepare for their family talent show. The performance highlights the differences and similarities between the generations and the growth and impact Caribbean culture has had on British Society.
Led by Dani Harris-Walters, Company DHW is a new and exciting hip-hop theatre company which puts community, relatability and inclusivity at the forefront of its work.
Please note, both shows include integrated BSL.
Duration: 30 minutes
Location 7: ///crowd.intro.toward
The future just strutted in on six-inch heels with the loudest silent disco you’ve ever seen. She’s a robot, peacock, drag queen…with disco in her circuits and sass in every feather. Enjoy this high-voltage street takeover from Fit Up Productions where comedy meets robo-cabaret, and every passerby becomes part of the party.
Duration: 35 minutes
Location 6: ///yappy.fits.tuned
New Orleans meets 90s club classics…a rave funeral without the body.
In New Orleans, funerals are celebrated in style, with noisy brass bands processing through the streets. The main section of the parade is known as First Line, but the real fun starts with the Second Line, those who follow the band to enjoy the music, marching with the musicians and twirling parasols or waving handkerchiefs.
Welcome to Second Lining.
A rabble of mischievous northerners, Mr Wilson’s Second Liners form a traditional New Orleans Second Line. However, this is no sombre occasion: Mr Wilson’s expend their collective musical talent paying homage to the diehard days of the Hacienda, 90s club culture and its greatest hero, Mr Tony Wilson.
These revolutionary genre bashers knock the First Line sideways, opting for upbeat dance tracks over traditional slow hymns. Proudly stepping out in uniformed style, they channel the spirit of the 24 hour party people and get audiences dancing wherever they play.
The vision is an anarchic, street extravaganza, bursting with colour and sound, rallying impromptu raves on street corners and rousing audiences young and old into a joyful frenzy.
Friday 19 June – Location 3: /// join.bulb.waving
Saturday 20 June – Location 8 to 7: ///amuse.cheer.demand to ///crowd.intro.toward
Three children live in a world that rarely looks their way. Yet, sometimes, the impossible feels close enough to touch. This is a story of small beginnings and boundless possibilities. What we all need to do is harness the power of opportunity. This performance is proudly homegrown. Made and featured by people connected to Basingstoke and Deane.
Created by Sarah Thomas-Lane, musical score by QMC Alumni Morgan Cookson, choreographed by Kim Holder from Routine Riots, with dancers from B.A.D, and with a little help from Amazingstoke’s, Creative Hub. Proving, first hand, what you can achieve with a little opportunity!
What could you become, if you dared to dream?
Duration: 20 minutes
Location 8: ///amuse.cheer.demand
Step into The Hide and see what might not always be visible. The Hide is a live birdwatching experience, led by artist Tilly Ingram. The Hide gives us time to sit, appreciate and watch the spaces around us. Whilst looking for birds, we can also stop and think about how we look at nature and how we look at people.
Accommodating 60 people per show, audiences are provided with headphones, binoculars and an illustrated bird ID spotting sheet and are invited to experience the hide. Please note equipment will be issued to the audience on a first come, first served basis.
Duration: 30 minutes
Location 2: ///land.lush.issued
Hear ye, hear ye! It has come to our attention that the Knightly Order has been accused of being old-fashioned, elitist, outdated and utterly irrelevant to the modern day lives of the modern-day people! But not to worry, for our clattering of steel-clad clowns believe that chivalry should be more alive today than ever before. It just needs a little… redefining.
With circus-inspired weaponry, spectacular stupidity, community games and absurd demonstrations of bravery – join us in a medieval medley of merriment and madness.
Developed with funding from Basingstoke and Deane’s Creative Incubator Fund.
Duration: 45 minutes
Friday 19 and Saturday 20 June – Location 3: /// join.bulb.waving
Sunday 21 June – The Green, Tadley: /// shrugging.perch.backdrop
Follow Alice down the rabbit hole to the magical world of Wonderland. Have tea with the Mad Hatter, smile with the Cheshire Cat, laugh with the Tweedles but beware of the horrid Queen of Hearts! This fast-paced production from Pumpkin Pantos is jam-packed with colourful costumes, sensational musical numbers and side-splitting comedy.
You’d be mad to miss it!
Duration: 60 minutes
Location: /// renew.stall.award